I’ll start this out by stating that I have never been to a convention of
this sort ever in my life. In college, I attended a lot of music festivals with thousands
of people so going into it I figured this would be a similar pushing through the
crowd and waiting in lines type of thing. Well, I was completely wrong.

Here’s the backstory, my sister and her best friend/comedy partner
previously worked for Buzzfeed Video. Now they have their own popular channel on
YouTube, Just Between Us. The two of them get hundreds of emails a day and have a pretty large
following of loyal fans. Well, when you put all those fans in one room and attempt to
walk around said room, things can get intense.

My sister invited me along with her to Vid Con this year jokingly saying I
would be their bodyguard for the day, or at least I thought it was a joke. One of the
harder situations for these famous YouTubers to deal with is that while they would
love to stop and take a picture with every fan or be able to have a conversation with
them, they just don’t have the time. There are so many people surrounding them at
once, it becomes overwhelming for the two of them. So that’s where I came in. I was
to act as a buffer/ handler and make sure they got from point A to point B without
being mobbed by teens. Thankfully, this is something I am not only good at but
enjoy doing.

As soon as we exited the hotel lobby, they were noticed. This was like taking
Jennifer Lawrence out into a crowd of X-Men fans at Comic Con. What were we
thinking? Fans stopped us every few steps to ask for a photo. I immediately began
being able to tell by the people’s faces if they recognized my sister and were heading
our way. I could see that if one fan stopped them then fifteen others surrounded in
seconds for a picture too. I would step in after a minute or so and say something like
“Sorry guys we have to go! But meet up at 4 outside the Marriott!” then grab their
hands and run away.

Watching these people get so excited to see my sister was something I never
could have imagined in my wildest dreams, but that being said I loved every second
of it. Watching all this madness showed me that she has made an impact on other
people’s lives just by being her wonderful self. It slowly turned into a proud moment
for me as her sister, and then a scared one for her safety as we would run from one
place to another.

When the meet up happened, I took charge of it all because as soon as people
saw them, they were swarmed. I set up a line of people and sold merch to the fans. I
would talk to people in line while they waited and kept them moving along quickly
but with enough time to get to say what they wanted to the girls. It went
surprisingly smoothly and everyone seemed happy, even the girls who were crying
and couldn’t speak.

One of the mothers waiting in line came over to buy a poster and we began to
talk. “That’s your sister?” “Yup, I’m just helping out today”, I said as I showed her the
poster. She smiled at me and nodded yes to the poster, “You are a lucky girl to have
her in your life. My daughter never stops talking about her. They truly inspired her
to come out of her shell and she has never been happier.” She handed me money and
walked away. I looked at my sister hugging a crying fan and just smiled.

For me, this entire experience was just a verification of how incredible of a
person my sister is and how much of a difference she can and is making in this
generation of teens lives. As a kid, she was never very happy. She didn’t have a large
group of friends, but mostly kept to herself and read a lot of books. Watching her
make all the people who are just like her as a kid smile with joy and realize that
things will get better has given me the ultimate happiness.

See while I already knew she was this remarkable and talented person, now
other people know this as well. She has used her platform to discuss real issues and
stand up for what she believes in. She isn’t afraid of what people, mostly men, may say because
she’s proud of her beliefs and views on whatever the issue may be. Through this
platform, she and her comedy partner have helped those with anxiety, OCD, gender
confusion and of course, what a good friendship should look like.

After leaving Vid Con, I texted my sister to say how proud I was to be related
to her. She replied that even she is still in disbelief of it all but that if she can make a
kid happy, that’s it really. This made me see that this is what it’s about for all these
famous YouTuber’s, making people happy. It was definitely a crazy experience but
quite possibly the most important one I’ve had in a while. I always knew she was
doing big things and now that has only been confirmed even more so.

My problem is that I don’t want to just meet celebrities. Like, I don’t want to just see them, take a photo, and exchange a few sentences. No. I want to actually get to know who they really are. I want to spend time with them and discover their hopes and dreams their fears and worries. I don’t want their fame, I want their friendship.

jennamarbles photographed for our cover story on the current generation of Youtube stars changing the entertainment landscape. Read the full story: “New Breed of Online Stars Rewrite the Rules of Fame” here: http://tinyurl.com/ogjmeya

I’ve been known to watch quite a bit of Youtube. When I don’t feel like doing anything productive, Youtube is my go-to for almost everything. From beauty tutorials to vlogs I watch a little of everything. Carrie Hope Fletcher is one of my favorite female youtubers.. I’ve watched her from the beginning, ever since I heard about her from Nerimon or Alex Day’s channel.

Carrie herself is crazy multitalented with an undeniable love for books and cake and everything Disney. Her rather large group of followers are called the Hopefuls, and she has quite proudly named herself their honorary big sister, a title that even I have grown to know her by. She’s kind and sweet and gives some of the best advice I’ve ever heard. Not to mention she is an actress and singer and lives in the theatre capitol of the world: London. A place I could only ever dream of living. She currently plays Eponine in West End’s production of Les Miz, along with an ensemble track before becoming Ponine. This is her dream role, as she told her Hopefuls, because when she was younger she played Young Eponine in the production. She is currently the only actress to have portrayed both roles on any West End stage. This is one of things I admire most about her. When I watched her older videos she was just a talented girl trying to pursue her dreams of performing onstage and now I see her and she’s living her dream. She loves performing and it’s because of her love of theatre and books and music that I feel I have such strong connection with her. She gives me hope that it is possible to achieve my dream roles on stage. Although she’s not too much older than me, I look up to her as a real life role model.